The Needlewoman
c. 1640/1650 · Oil on canvas · National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
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About this work
- Artist
- Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
- Year
- c. 1640/1650
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 74 × 60 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- Movement
- Baroque
A young woman bends over her sewing, her face modelled in soft light and shadow and her hands no more than rapid strokes, the canvas left unfinished. Velázquez painted it some time between 1640 and 1650 in the years when he was chiefly occupied with portraits of Philip IV and the royal family, and the National Gallery of Art reads it as one of the subjects he took up for himself in his spare hours. The sitter is unidentified; the resemblance to his Lady with a Fan has led some to propose his daughter Francisca. The picture was in his rooms when he died in 1660, listed in the inventory as another head of a woman doing needlework. Andrew W. Mellon bought it in 1927 and it came to the National Gallery of Art in Washington with his collection in 1937.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Details & materials
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About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.



















